The present invention relates to a device, a system and a method in order, in a telephone exchange, in a simple way, via some service supervising means to enable access to, and also emptying of, a buffer where data concerning all of the calls put through by the telephone exchange are stored.
In modern telecommunication engineering there is always some form of supervision over the constituent objects of the tele communication system which ensures that the system functions correctly, corrects errors if such occur or quite simply warns the system operator if an error occurs which is not of such nature that the system itself can take care of it. The objects can be connected in some form of network and supervised by a superordinant supervising means, usually called xe2x80x9cmanagerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csystem managerxe2x80x9d. A manager can be connected to one or more so-called agent units which supervise at least one object each. The agent units can send messages to the superordinated supervising means about their objects and are consequently physically placed between the superordinate supervising means and the object that they are intended to supervise. They can send messages on their own initiative or on request. An agent unit, often also called Proxy agent, is therefore a unit which possesses a certain intelligence and reports discovered errors to the superordinate supervising means. By the use of agent units the work load of the superordinate supervising means is made easier.
A common protocol which is used in supervising routines is Simple Network Management Protocol, SNMP. An agent is therefore often called an SNMP agent and in the same way the superordinate supervising means is called an SNMP manager. A system with agents is described for example in EP-A2 0 621 706.
Other prior art with systems of agent units and functions of these agent units are to be found in the two Swedish patent applications SE 9504393-1 and SE 9504394-9. Today""s telephone exchanges usually send out certain call data via an interface for treatment without having to store the same. For each conversation which is put through the telephone exchange information is sent out about the conversation, so-called connection data. The connection data comprises amongst others xe2x80x9ccharging dataxe2x80x9di.e. the information which is needed for the correct charging of the customer, but also for example which path a call has taken. The charging data however, only comprises the information which is necessary for correct call charging, i.e. which number was calling, who was called, i.e. the A subscriber and the B subscriber, and for how long the call was in progress. According to the prior art one usually connects an external buffer via the telephone exchange in order to store the charging data. This will be called a xe2x80x9cCall Account Bufferxe2x80x94CABxe2x80x9d from now on. When collecting the information from the buffer then it must be rung up from a supervising organ via a modem or via a direct connection and emptied. Received data is then processed in a unit which in this field of use can be called an xe2x80x9cCall Account Managerxe2x80x94CAMxe2x80x9d, in order to be able to form the basis for a correct call charging. This CAM can be the same computer as the supervising means or equally well a freestanding computer with a connection to the supervising computer.
The limitations with this technique lie foremost in that a modem must be used in order to access the buffers, which is very time consuming and nearly untenable in large systems where a computer could function as the supervising unit for, for example, hundreds of company exchanges. Furthermore, it is only possible to ring up one CAB at a time for emptying. Such a system also has difficulties in alarming the supervising unit, with, for example, alarms when a buffer needs emptying.
The invention is intended to solve on the one hand the problem with slow emptying of the buffers and on the other hand the difficulties with the buffer alarms through in a new way using an agent/agents which are placed to supervise a telephone exchange. The object with the invention is further, in a reliable and extremely fast way, to empty buffers which contain the information which is necessary for correct call charging. The invention permits several buffers to be emptied at the same time. Yet another object is to simplify and improve administration through giving a possibility for buffers to alarm the superordinate supervising means if a certain degree of filling has been passed or some other problem is present.
According to the prior art a telephone exchange sends out via one of its ports data about each call, the A subscriber, the B subscriber, the length of call and so on. The data is collected in an external buffer xe2x80x9cCall Account Bufferxe2x80x94CABxe2x80x9d. Emptying often occurs on regular basis (for example once a week) by a supervising unit which can be a normal PC. The PC must then via modem or via a direct connection and through the normal fixed public net, PSTN, ring up the buffer and empty it. Transmissions via modem are unfortunately a slow and furthermore relatively insecure method. In a case where a tele communications operator using a single supervising means shall collect together the xe2x80x9ccharge dataxe2x80x9d from for example an extremely large number of company exchangesxe2x80x94PBXs where a considerable quantity of telephone calls in each exchange has been made during a week it can be understood that the total quantity of data in the buffers can be enormous. The buffers of the different company exchanges naturally are filled at different speeds and with today""s technology there are poor possibilities for these so-called CABs to alarm the supervising means when emptying of these needs to be performed. This complicates administration and data can be lost because the CAB is able to become overfilled before the supervising means manages to empty it.
The invention solves the above problems through a device where a buffer instead is integrated completely physically in the agent unit which is placed to supervise the telephone exchange in question. The agent unit, which physically can be situated in the vicinity of, or alternatively integrated in, the telephone exchange, communicates with the same through some supervising specific protocol, for example SNMP, normally is in connection with the superordinate supervising means, SNMP manager, via an access port and through some sort of data network, for example the Internet or some form of Intranet. Through dedicating a memory area in said agent and in this way realising a buffer the connection data or only the charging data can be transmitted from an exchange unit to the buffer in order to be stored and then the stored data can be emptied and transmitted to the SNMP manager with the help of a normal file transferring protocol, for example FTP.
The problems can be further said to be solved through a system which with a superordinate supervising means, an agent unit and connection therebetween via some data network, reserves memory space in said agent unit for storage of connection data or only charging data sent from an exchange unit, where the agent unit is in communication with the access port in the exchange unit which transmits said data.
The problems are also solved through a method for storing of either the connection data or at least the charging data that an exchange unit generates in a memory space reserved for this purpose in an agent unit connected to the exchange unit whereupon a superordinate supervising means which via a data network is connected to the agent unit initiates emptying of the buffer incorporated in the agent unit at some indication from said agent unit.
By means of these solutions to said problems a number of advantages are obtained. Since the transmission speed via data networks through normal file transmission is much higher than that which transmission according to earlier known techniques can offer, that is via modem and via the usual fixed telephone network, it is made possible that a computer which acts as a superordinate supervising means can supervise an extremely large number of exchange units with associated agent and buffers for the collection of data necessary for correct charging. These can also be accessed simultaneously and, via the data network, a number of them can be emptied at the same time. Through the agent units also possessing a certain intelligence the process of alarm communication between the buffer and the supervising means is also simplified. Alarms can for example concern errors in the buffer, overfilled buffer, certain other buffer levels fulfilled, or alarms about pure programware errors. The buffer is then emptied through normal file transferring through the data network to which both the agent unit and the superordinate supervising means are connected.
Said solution also means that a number of modems become superfluous. Other implementations are also conceivable in the agent, such as for example compression of the data, which would give even faster transferring of the requested data.